Strengthening the social forestry (PS) policy that lasted more than three decades, increasingly felt concrete after the Indonesian government through the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (LHK) 2014 allocated 12.7 million hectares of forest area (14.06 million ha in 2021) to people living in and around the forest. This policy as part of agrarian reform is intended primarily to provide fairer access to the citizens of the community generally compared to the access of forest areas to an elite group of businessmen in the past. National achievements in accessing forest areas in this PS, until the beginning of 2022 have reached 4,929,380.02 ha; 1,080,476 KK; and 7,494 units of PS licenses.

In Java, whose forest area is mandated to be managed by Perum Perhutani (PP 72/2010), PS achievements in four provinces in Java (Banten, West Java, Central Java, and East Java), this social forestry permit reaches a land area of 324,402.78 ha (hectares), 602 (SK units), and 172,971 households (heads of families). East Java Province is the largest of the four provinces on the island with land use permits reaching 176,149.68 ha (54.29%) 347 units SK (57.64%), in 120,990 households (69.94%). KUPS (PS Business Group) has formed a total of 68 units. In the Tuban region itself, 9 KUPS Units (goKUPS ) have been formed – SOCIAL FORESTRY & ENVIRONMENTAL PARTNERSHIP (usahahutan.id). KUPS  management is part of the second issue, namely the utilization and preservation of forests in the PS program.

The critical ethnographic study in this paper was chosen because it can involve itself in social factors such as injustice, inequality of power, and examine common-sense assumptions such as gender. Critical ethnography (Creswell, 2007: 93) can help in enlightenment and empowerment of marginalized community groups.